In a special joint engagement Monday afternoon, King Charles formally handed over the role of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps to the Prince of Wales.

The royals met with the Army Air Corps at Middle Wallop Airfield in Hampshire. Upon arrival, King Charles met with an Honour Guard and met Lieutenant General Sir Nicholas Borton, who serves at the Colonel Commandant of the Army Air Corps.

The King received a tour of the Army Flying Museum and met with members of the Army Air Corps before unveiling a plaque to commemorate the first Apache AH Mk.1 on display in a museum.

Reflecting on the last 32 years of his colonelcy, the King said that the moment passing it over to William was “tinged with great sadness” after decades of knowing the soldiers, but that he was hopeful about the future.

The King said of the future: “I do hope you’ll go from strength to strength in the future with the Prince of Wales as your new Colonel-in-Chief. The great thing is he’s a very good pilot indeed – so that’s encouraging.”

After this reception, the King walked to the control tower where an Apache was parked and met his son to officially hand over colonelcy. The pair met with airmen before the King departed and William began his first official engagement with the Army Air Corps.

This included meeting personnel, receiving briefings on missions, and touring the aircrafts and machinery in use by the Corps. He then departed on an Apache helicopter.

On the Kensington Palace social media, William shared photos of himself in 1999 and 2008 on past visits to the Army Air Corps and captioned them as “Time flies.”

William was officially announced as the Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps last August when the King reshuffled a few military appointments upon his accession.

The King had previously been Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps for 31 years.

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